When the Society of Automotive Engineers released their definitions of varying levels of automation from level 0 to level 5, it became easier to define and distinguish between the many capabilities and advancements of autonomous vehicles. Supervision and functionality remain in the balance as values to prioritize for OEMs choosing to employ higher levels of automation.

With global cargo and e-commerce demand set to skyrocket over the next 20 years, electric light commercial vehicles (eLCVs) will play a crucial role in the decarbonization of transport. eLCVs are now technologically mature enough to compete with current combustion vehicles on virtually all performance metrics. However, before they can be adopted en-masse into commercial fleets, they must first demonstrate that they can be financially competitive too.

Electric vehicle (EV) sales continued to increase in 2024, admittedly with some significant regional disparity, but IDTechEx found that globally, EV sales increased 24% in 2024 over 2023. Despite the fact that most data shows EV fires are less common than combustion engine vehicles, safety cannot be overlooked in any rate of occurrence. This article aims to discuss some of the key factors and some of the potential materials that EV battery designers may consider.

Sales of electric light commercial vehicles (eLCVs) are expected to surge from just under 500,000 in 2024 to over 11 million by 2045. In this short video, IDTechEx Technology Analyst Pranav Jaswani provides key insights into this rapidly expanding industry on the brink of widespread adoption.

The automotive industry is under increasing scrutiny to improve sustainability, and one of the key approaches to addressing this is sustainable material choice. The automotive sector uses over 14 million tonnes of plastics in passenger automotive vehicles each year.

Despite the large increase in EV adoption, EV battery designers still face a great deal of challenges. For material players within the EV supply chain, there are several routes to supporting EV battery designers with these challenges and differentiating their offerings. This article covers the primary and secondary targets for EV battery designers and some of the ways that materials suppliers can support them.

Infrared sensors are becoming more popular in vehicles for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), in-cabin sensing, and driver monitoring systems (DMS), largely due to advancements in vehicle safety and awareness. This increasing adoption of ADAS on regular vehicles alongside safety regulations will create more opportunities for IR technologies.

As electric vehicles (EVs) become the norm, charging infrastructure must adapt to meet the diverse needs of drivers everywhere. In this short video, IDTechEx Senior Technology Analyst Shazan Siddiqi breaks down the key charging technologies shaping the future.

A free collection of insights from our industry experts, sharing some of the key technology innovation trends shaping the next decade.

LiDAR has been touted as a solution to the automotive industry's endeavor to build safer and completely driverless cars, working towards a world with zero road fatalities and more accessible transport. So, after a decade of development, testing, trials, funding, partnerships, acquisitions, mergers, where is it? Why are there not more cars on the road running LiDAR?

The growing availability of retired EV batteries will be a critical factor that will influence the growing penetration of second-life battery storage technologies. However, key considerations related to EV battery chemistry and repurposing processes will dictate how techno-economically feasible it will be to develop and deploy these technologies at commercial-scale and how competitive they will be compared to incumbent first-life Li-ion battery energy storage systems (BESS).

The aviation industry encompasses a diverse range of aircraft types and sizes, each with unique use cases and vastly different power and energy requirements. In this brief video, Dr. James Jeffs, Principal Technology Analyst at IDTechEx, explains more about what this means for the future of sustainable aviation.

The automotive industry has been using radar for two and a half decades. During that time, it has transformed from enabling luxury features on the most expensive cars, to being used ubiquitously for basic safety features in almost all new cars. This article goes through the three most important takeaways from the report. Starting with the huge growth that will be driven by side radars used in short-range applications.

Thursday 23 January 2025 - Key drivers and challenges in each sector, as well as a snapshot of the electrification picture in 2024; Evolving global Li-on battery demand, and how battery performance requirements change for different applications; Market outlook until 2045

Robotaxis are proving they can offer driverless services in certain cities, as a means of accessible and modern public transport. In 2023, IDTechEx reports that 9 million registered autonomous vehicle miles were logged across the state. Key leaders in this commercial autonomous vehicle and robotaxi space are Waymo, having submitted half of all the miles recorded in California to date, and Cruise, which, although accounted for 30% of these miles, has recently been shut down.

By far, the biggest factor that determines the range and cost of an electric car is the battery. The now ubiquitous lithium-ion battery comes in a variety of chemistries. The first commercialized Li-ion batteries were lithium cobalt oxide (LCO), which remains the chemistry of choice in portable electronic devices, but the quest for a higher range has led to a search for new chemistries.

Wednesday 29 January 2025 - State of the industry update on autonomous cars and factors driving demand for higher-performance radars; State-of-the-art technology from tier ones; Next-generation technologies from start-ups; Longer-term prospects for automotive radar

2024 was a year of progress for zero-emissions trucks (battery-electric and fuel cell) globally. With sales numbers, range, and model availability all increasing, the other part of the puzzle is refueling. For both electric charging and hydrogen refueling, barriers remain concerning grid capacity, costs, scalability, and sustainability.

Electrification is rapidly expanding beyond automotive, with IDTechEx predicting that by 2045, the electric vehicle market (ex. Automotive) will be worth US$1 trillion. IDTechEx's new report, "Electric Vehicles: Land, Sea, and Air 2025-2045", covers 11 key vehicle segments, breaking down historic and forecast growth across 148 forecast lines, including battery demand, drivetrain share, and market value. What is the outlook for such diverse sectors as buses, planes, boats, and planes?

While EV market growth has slowed down, particularly in Europe and the US since 2023, China has maintained uptake and is currently the largest single market for EVs in the world. The new energy vehicle (NEV) market in China sees PHEV cars driving this strong growth in the future, with the market share for PHEVs having nearly doubled from 2023 to H1 2024.